Granulated polymers are widely used in formulations where large quantities of water are undesirable, e.g., fabric washing powder, dishwashing powder, dishwashing tablets, water softening powder/tablets and wettable powders containing active ingredients. The polymers may be included in such formulations as, for instance, dispersants.
It is often desirable for granulated polymers to be formed from blends of two or more polymers, thereby allowing the formulator to exploit favorable properties of the constituent polymers. It is also desirable for the blend of polymers to form a single granule, (and not a mixture of granules of each individual polymer) that exhibits compositional homogeneity, high bulk density, low water content, and favorable particle size.
Formulating polymer blends into uniform granules is challenging, however, particularly where the mixed polymers in solution/dispersion are otherwise incompatible, and are therefore not amenable to the formation of homogenous solids.
Processes that provide granules that are blends of polymers and that exhibit compositional homogeneity, high bulk density, low water content, and/or favorable particle size, and the blends prepared thereby, are desirable in the art.